


664,200

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Yugioh Advent 2018 [10]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Anxiety, Hugs, M/M, Resurrection, Return, Returning Home, Reunions, Waiting, Yami Yuugi | Atem has his own body, yugioh advent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-16 02:56:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16945659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: One year, three months, and five daysIt had been one year, three months, and five days since Atem left11,070 hours664,200 minutesCould anyone really blame Yugi for not wanting to waste another day, hour, or minute waiting on his partner?





	664,200

**Author's Note:**

> Day 10 of Yugioh Advent 2018- "Return"
> 
> I hope I got the math right >>

One year, three months, and five days

It had been one year, three months, and five days since Atem left

11,070 hours

664,200 minutes

Could anyone really blame Yugi for not wanting to waste another day, hour, or minute waiting on his partner?

His chest was tight, his heart pounding, his stomach hurt

Every breath was a struggle, he had never paced so much in his life, he felt aches and pains everywhere, in random places, almost like phantom touches, the way he had been feeling that strange emptiness ever since Atem left

Phantom touches here, the ghostly feeling of another presence within him there...

It was fake every single time, always just.... an illusion, a hallucination, something that wasn't real, in his head...

He could barely stand it, part of him wanted to practically peel his skin off, he didn't know how to process this kind of anxiety, it was so much more intense than anything he had ever felt before, a strange mixture of anxiety and excitement that he couldn't quite label

He was pacing back and forth over and over again, he couldn't stop or even slow down, the heels of his shoes clicking against the tile floor of Kaiba's lab as he waited was like a metronome ticking back and forth in his mind

Kaiba had told him a few days ago that this was going to be it

He would make Atem an offer he couldn't refuse

One duel- all or nothing

If Kaiba won, Atem would come back to the living room with him, and if Atem won.... then Kaiba would never ask again

Never in his life had Yugi prayed for Atem to lose, least of all this hard, but he was calling upon every god and spirit and entity that he could possibly think of, begging, pleading, desperate for his partner to lose, to come back, to be with him again

He knew it was selfish

He knew it was selfish and that was why he had never tried to get Atem back himself in the past, why he had always been so disapproving of it when Kaiba tried to

Atem was happy and at peace and it was the most selfish thing in the universe to take that away from him just so that Yugi could feel better, but....

But he couldn't stand it anymore

The loneliness was killing him, it was gnawing at his insides, pounding against his skull, he had thought that he would get used to it over time, that the intensity would get better, that he would suffer less, but each passing day seemed just as bad as the last, he woke up every morning only to be burned by the same harsh reality again and again...

He blamed his dreams for that

He dreamed of Atem every single night, and waking up to find his bed empty and the puzzle gone was a kind of cruelty that he would never wish on even his worst enemy

He still didn't openly support this plan, for the record

But secretly, in the back of his mind, in the most personal parts of himself, he prayed for Atem to lose this duel

He finally paused in his pacing, glancing up at the clock and feeling his stomach twist

Kaiba had been gone for hours now and there was seemingly no sign of him coming back....

How would this work anyway?

Would Atem have his own body coming back? Or did Kaiba have some sort of.... fake.... already designed and produced, just waiting for Atem's soul to land inside it?

Would it be immediate, or would it take a few days?

Would Atem be able to adjust?

Ah... he needed to stop thinking like this, he needed to turn off all of these thoughts, they were full of too much hope and it was going to come back to bite him alot sooner than later...

He licked his lips, giving a shuddering breath and starting to pace again, but just as he had started to do that, the sound of an elevator dinging brought his attention away and he found himself racing towards the elevator, his legs shaking, his eyes watering, he had never prayed so much in his life, but when the elevator door opened....

He found himself dropping to the floor, a relieved sob breaking out of him as he finally caught sight of what he had been begging to see all this time

Atem....

_Atem_.....

**_Atem_ **

"Y-Yugi!? Aibou, what's wrong!?"

Oh that voice..... how he had ached to hear that voice all this time....

He scraped himself off of the floor, tears already pouring out of his eyes as he rushed forward and brushed past Kaiba, wrapping his arms around his partner

And when he hugged him back....

_Gods_

_**Gods** _

This was so much different from the last time they had seen eachother, so different from when he had seen only Atem's spirit

This was tangible, and permanent

There was no heartache to keep at bay, nothing he was trying to restrain, it wouldn't hurt him in the long run if he got attached to this now, not like it would have back then

Atem was back

He was back now, for good, he wasn't going anywhere

It was ok to cry, to indulge, to wrap his arms around Atem's neck and drag him down, kissing him hard and slow and deep, his entire body shaking as the pharaoh held him, squeezed, kept him close

It was ok

Atem was back now, and he wasn't going anywhere

He could keep him this time, he could keep _this_

"I take it you're happy to see me?" the pharaoh breathed, upon his first breath of freedom

"See? I told you he would be, you owe me an apology for being an idiot," Kaiba grumbled, having already stepped out of the elevator

Yugi sort of wanted to know the context of that conversation, but it was another issue for another time and not worth anything right now

Right now, he merely wanted to indulge in this moment

He had spent 664,200 minutes without Atem, it was only fair that he get to spend longer than one or two of those minutes indulging in him


End file.
